The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) protects the human rights of people in countries that belong to the Council of Europe. All 47 Member States of the Council, including the UK, have signed the Convention. Its full title is the 'Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms'.
What does the European Court of Human Rights do? The Court applies the European Convention on Human Rights. Its task is to ensure that States respect the rights and guarantees set out in the Convention. It does this by examining complaints (known as “applications”) lodged by individuals or, sometimes, by States.
Governments signed up to the ECHR have made a legal commitment to abide by certain standards of behaviour and to protect the basic rights and freedoms of ordinary people. It is a treaty to protect the rule of law and promote democracy in European countries.
European Convention on Human Rights. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, better known as the European Convention on Human Rights, was opened for signature in Rome on 4 November 1950 and came into force on 3 September 1953.
The European Court of Human Rights monitors that the Convention rights are respected by the Parties. Both individuals of any nationality and States can appeal to the Court if they believe that their rights have been violated by a Contracting Party once all domestic remedies have been exhausted.
Who can bring a case to the Court? The Convention makes a distinction between two types of application: individual applications lodged by any person, group of individuals, company or NGO having a complaint about a violation of their rights, and inter-State applications brought by one State against another.
Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights expands on Article 14 to include a freestanding prohibition of discrimination in "any right set forth by law". Introduced in 2000, it has been ratified by 20 of 47 Council of Europe states as of 2021.
The European Court of Human Rights ('ECtHR') was established on 21 January 1959, with a mandate (under Article 19 of the European Convention on Human Rights) to ensure that States which signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights stuck by their assumed obligations.
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is an international treaty created by the Council of Europe. It entered into force in 1953 and protects the human rights and fundamental freedoms of every person in every member state of the Council of Europe.
The Human Rights Act 1998 sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that everyone in the UK is entitled to. It incorporates the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic British law. The Human Rights Act came into force in the UK in October 2000.
The term “Convention” is used as a synonym for an international legal treaty. The convention has been ratified by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe; it has also been ratified by Belarus, the Holy See, and Kazakhstan.